As You Are
by vanja
Summary: Lee learns something about Percy.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Character belong to the very talented J. K. Rowling, and sadly not to me.

Lee sighed in relief when the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room closed behind him. He'd made it without being detected. 

"Was she worth it?" 

The sudden words startled Lee and he quickly twisted his head to find the owner of the voice. 

"Percy! You nearly scared the life out of me!" he said to the boy sitting in an armchair in front of the fireplace, while he was trying to get his heart to stop beating so fast. 

"Sorry," Percy said, not looking too apologetic. 

"What are you doing up?" Lee asked, walking over to sit in the chair next to Percy's. 

"Waiting for you," Percy replied simply. 

"For me?" Lee smiled a bit nervously. "Am I in trouble?" 

Percy pursed his lips and looked intently at Lee. Then he smiled slightly and shook his head, and Lee raised his eyebrows.

"I'm not? Then why are you waiting for me?"

"I never go to bed before I know all Gryffindors are in their dormitories."

"Really? How come I've never seen you before?" Lee said and almost bit his tongue when he realised that if Percy hadn't been there it was probably not the smartest idea to reveal that there had been other late nights. But Percy didn't seem surprised. He just shrugged.

"I don't usually say anything. And people don't tend to linger in here too long, they hurry up to their rooms."

"But why do you do it?" Lee was intrigued. He pulled his knees up against his chest and looked intently at the older boy. "It's not mandatory for headboys, is it?"

"No," Percy shook his head and looked down at his shoes. "It's just that, well, I can't sleep if I don't know that everyone is safe in their beds."

"Really?" Lee said again. "That's kind of..."

"Obsessive, I know," Percy said embarassed, still looking down.

"Sweet, was more what I was thinking, actually." Lee trailed off and smiled when he saw that Percy was blushing. 

"Oh," Percy said. He cleared his throat akwardly. "Well, it feels like it's my duty as headboy." He laughed shortly. "Or as a big brother, since it's mostly my family who's running around at night anyway."

"Fred and George," Lee said knowingly.

"Yeah. Although Ron together with Harry and Hermione isn't far behind. Even Ginny..." He shook his head. "Even Ginny," he repeated quietly. "Anyway," he said, wanting to change the subject. "You didn't answer my question before. Was she worth it?"

"What? Who?" Lee was confused.

"I suppose this late night escapade had something to do with a girl," Percy explained. "So, was she worth it?"

"Oh, well, eh..." Lee sighed. "Actually, she didn't even show up."

Percy winced in sympathy.

"Ouch."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Lee rose for the chair and smiled and Percy. "Well, I'm back know, so you can go to bed with clean concience." He hesitated briefly. "Unless there is someone else still out?"

"No, you were the last one," Percy said, also rising. He started gathering together the books and pieces of papers that Lee up until now hadn't noticed was lying on the worn table next to the chair. 

"Were you studying?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah, sure, that's what I do down here," Percy said. He noticed the expression on Lee's face and laughed. "What? You thought I just sat here staring at the door all through the night?"

"No! Of course not," Lee said even if that was the image he had gotten, and now almost felt a bit disappointed.

"It works out great, really," Percy said. "It's nice and quiet, no distractions. I get a lot of work done."

"Maybe I should try that," Lee said as they both started climbing the stairs. "It certainly couldn't hurt."

"Are you having problems?" Percy looked concerned.

Lee shrugged. "Not really, I guess. I just think I'll never be able to grasp transfiguration completely."

"You know," Percy said, almost shyly, "I'd be more than happy to help."

Lee shook his head quickly.

"No, that's ok, I didn't mean..."

"No, I would like to help," Percy insisted. "It's just that, "he smiled a little, "no one ever asks me."

"Oh, ok," Lee said, truly grateful. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Do that," Percy said. "Now you know where to find me."

They had stopped in front of the doors to their respective rooms. 

"I do," Lee said. "Good night, then."

"Good night," Percy said, turning around and putting his hand on the door handle.

"Percy!" Lee said quickly.

Percy turned around again. "Yes?"

Lee closed the distance between them and gave Percy a quick tight hug. "Thanks for looking after us," he said quietly, smiled and went into his room, closing the door behind him, leaving a blushing Percy in the hallway.

To be continued...


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J. K. Rowling, not to be. 

Chapter Two

"Fred, wake up!" Lee said in the tone of voice of someone who had said the same thing four times already. 

Fred muttered something unintelligent and hid his head under the pillow. 

"If you don't get up now you'll miss breakfast," Lee continued while pulling his shirt on.

"Go bother George," Fred said, his voice muffled by the pillow. 

"Unlike you, your brother is already up," Lee said. "He's in the shower."

Fred only grunted in response. 

"Right," Lee said resolutely. "You leave me no choice." He walked over to Fred's bed, grabbed hold of the cover and pulled hard. Fred, who was tangled in the cover ended up on the floor with a loud "oof!" He glared up at Lee through half open eyes.

"Sometimes I really hate you," he sighed. "Do you have to do that every morning?"

Lee shrugged. "It's the most effective way to get you up." He poked Fred's arm with his toe. "Get dressed."

"I will, I will." Fred rose from the floor.

Lee yawned. He had had trouble falling asleep. Last night's encounter with Percy had made him reconsider a lot of things. He'd never really thought of Percy other than in the terms of head boy and Fred and George's somewhat annoying older brother. He felt a bit bad about that now. 

Fred pulled on a sweater and then looked around the room. 

"My trousers are gone," he stated plainly. 

"Why don't you look under your bed?" George said, coming into the room. "That's where all your other stuff usually ends up."

Fred turned to look at his brother. He put one hand over his heart and pretended to wipe a tear away with the other one. "Oh, George," he said, choking up a bit. "Mum would be so proud if she'd heard you now. You sounded just like Percy.

"Oi!" George protested and smacked his brother over the head. "That's the meanest thing you've said to me all week."

"That's what you get," Fred said and crouched down on the floor, reaching under his bed. "And besides, you were wrong. There are no trousers under here. A lot of stuff, yes, but no trousers." He withdrew his hand and looked at it in disgust. "Including something very sticky." 

"Serves you right," George said, still looking a bit hurt.

Lee fiddled with his shoelaces and bit the inside of his lower lip, debating whether to say something or not. 

"Look," he said finally. "Why do you two always do that?"

"Do what?" George looked at him. "Misplace trousers?"

"No." Lee hesitated. "Why do you always rack down on Percy like that?"

"Like what?" Fred absentmindedly wimped his hand on his bed sheet. 

"Like just now," Lee explained. "Why is it automatically an insult to be compared to Percy?"

"Because he's a stuck-up pompous git most of the time," George said slowly, frowning a bit at Lee.

"But he's head boy," Lee protested. "He has to be serious."

"Percy's been like that since long before he was made head boy," George said.

"Sometimes it seems like you don't even like him," Lee said quietly, looking at the shoe he was holding in his hand.

Fred looked shocked. "Of course we like him! He's our brother."

"Lee, what's all this about?" George asked. "Why do you suddenly care so much about what we think of Percy?"

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "You've never said anything before." 

Lee shook his head quickly, suddenly regretting saying anything at all. "It's nothing," he said, pulling on his shoe and tying it. 

"It must be something," George insisted. "Otherwise you wouldn't be acting like this." 

"Just forget it," Lee said. He was certain Percy wouldn't want his brothers to know about his night duty, and he felt he'd already said too much. 

Fred suddenly looked worried. "Is something wrong? With Percy?"

The expression on George's face mirrored Fred's as he sat down next to Lee on the bed. "Do you know something we don't?"

Lee remained silent.

Fred knelt before Lee and looked up at him. "Look," he said seriously. "If there's something wrong with Percy we deserve to know."

"There's nothing wrong," Lee said, but the twins' faces showed that they were not satisfied with that answer. He looked down at this hands and started picking on his nails. "It's just that I found something out about Percy last night that I didn't know, and it got me thinking and I realised that it can't be all that easy being him. I mean, he does have a lot of responsibilities as head boy, and he works hard for his grades, and it must be hard coming after Bill and Charlie, and then there's you, and everyone likes you, and Ron who is best friends with Harry Potter, and Ginny's adorable, and Percy just doesn't seem to have that many friends, which is kind of sad, and I just don't think you give him the credit he deserves." He stopped when he ran out of oxygen adn looked up at Fred, who was smiling wickedly. 

"Well, well," he said. "Seems like someone is quite enchanted by our dear brother."

"It seems so," George agreed, putting his arm around Lee's shoulders and squeezing lightly. "What did he do? Save you from a dragon?"

"Oh, sod off!" Lee cried irritated, which only led to delighted laughter from the twins.

"Oh, no," George said, squeezing a bit harder and Fred grabbed hold of Lee's leg. "We're not letting you off this time." 

Fred shook his head solemnly. Lee thought about refusing to give in, but quickly decided against it. When the twins had their mind set on something, there was no stopping them. He sighed in defeat and told them what had happened the night before. When he was done, George laughed shortly. 

"Doesn't surprise me a bit. Percy's always been a control freak." He stopped laughing when he saw the pointed look Lee gave him. "I mean that in the nicest way possible, of course," he amended. 

Fred looked thoughtful. "We must have cost him a lot of sleep," he said. "Mum would kill us if she knew."

"Look," Lee sighed. "Don't tell him I said anything, ok?"

"Of course not," Fred agreed. "We won't tell him you told us."

Lee looked at Fred suspiciously. "Don't tell him anything about this," he clarified. 

George laughed again. "Don't ask too much of us, Lee. We're not that strong." He patted Lee's shoulder. "We better go down to breakfast now," he said, signaling that the discussion was over. 

"I can't go to breakfast without trousers, can I?" Fred complained, rising from the floor. 

"Too bad," George said cheerfully. "Guess you have to go hungry then." He and Lee left the room, leaving Fred to stare after them. 

"Bastards," he muttered and sighed. Where could those bloody trousers be?

To be continued...


End file.
